01-26-2011, 09:48 PM
Official 'Black Marsh' Landscape Claim for Vudai Marshes Region #14: Far West
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Vudai Marshes Region: Far West
AVAILABILITY: Completed by Ibsen's Ghost
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![[Image: Vudai01.jpg]](http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq70/Ibsen3/Vudai01.jpg)
![[Image: Vudai02.jpg]](http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq70/Ibsen3/Vudai02.jpg)
![[Image: Vudai03.jpg]](http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq70/Ibsen3/Vudai03.jpg)
NB: All the black cells in the picture must be modded plus any other cells that border the region are optional (in order to get an effective transition from one region to another) but please take note of those that you do affect. To find these locations, take note that the x co-ordinates here (the numbers along the top) are all minus values (-1, -2, -3 etc.) on the left side and then become 0 before becoming positive values. Along the y axis, all the values are plus values. Therefore, -6,8 is the cell in the South-Western tip of the claim (shown in the first pic where you see Ossasoit) and 4,19 is the cell in the North-Eastern tip, close to Monago-Oag.
IMPORTANT: Please take note that I have already been working on this area as you can see by the white cells at the bottom of the map. Therefore, please work from the North downwards until my own esp is merged!
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Description & Details
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This area of the Black Marsh: Vudai Marshes region contains a number of key features which are, as yet, unmodded. Ossasoit will be a Hist Shrine on the edge of Blackwood whilst Utateki is planned to be a very small village that once sought protection from (very) nearby Fort Swampmoth. It has since been abandoned and the residents have taken their places in the Fort itself. Monago-Oag is planned as an Argonian settlement with some evidence of Sarpa dwellings. The initial ideas for this settlement were outlined here in this thread: New Beta Locations . As we plan to create a fairly large 'sinkhole' for this town, it might prove best to leave the assigned cells for this settlement for now.
The Vudai Marsh is a large and wide region that provides the drainage point for the Arnesian and Naga-Cradle Jungles. As such, much of the Western section consists of large river-swamps where the water has settled and stratified the land. This region, despite some attractive and unusual features, is known as being particularly treacherous due to hazardous landscape features such as quicksand swamps and poisonous spore trees. It is this that turns away many travellers (and any invading armies), providing perfect protection for the magically-concealed ancient capital of the Black Marshes, Helstrom. No non-natives dwell here.
On dry land areas, the Marshes can appear quite attractive and contain a profusion of marsh poppies (and their saplings) besides the dreaded spore trees and a variety of flora and fungi such as the fireroot and mushroom trees. In the watery areas, huge mossy trees cling together with the branches of dead trees. The Tillandsia Bulbosa plant is known to feed off the lower roots of these trees. Not to mention, the occasional deadly appearance of quicksand swamps....which even the deadly creatures dwelling here give a wide berth to.
Besides the inedible ferns, the region is unique in its quantity of fireroot that thrives in the fairly toxic climate near to the spore trees. The sorrel plant can also be found here as it is common in the marshier regions.
Hist Shrines are also rather more commonplace in this region...as their unique architecture allows for drainage which extends their lifetime in a sunken landscape.
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At-a-glance Details
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Region: Vudai Marshes
Cell count: 111 (approx.)
Exterior cell coordinates:
SW Corner = -6,8
NW Corner = -4,16
SE Corner = 4,9
NE Corner = 4,19
Claim Size & Difficulty: Medium. Leave the cells marked as Monago-Oag as they are except where you may wish to merge your landscaping to make it flow better. Read more about this below.
Inhabitants: Almost entirely Argonians, Sarpa, some Paatru and the creatures of the marshes.
Settlements in area: Utateki (aka Fort Swampmoth) and Monago-Oag.
General Info: Please maintain contact about your modding on this thread but, above all, keep posting updates by adding v1, v2, v3 etc. to the end of your files.Take note that any esps submitted must begin with BM followed by your modder initials. For me, this is BMIG (IG for Ibsen's Ghost). Then submit your final claim to this thread: Latest esm and esp updates .
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Modding Directions
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Download the latest bsa details here: Black Marsh Resources: Latest bsa .
Your first task is to make sure that the flora and trees are not floating above the ground or have any edges of the models showing. For the Vudai Marshes, this is quite easy to handle with the trees as it is not a particularly dense area. However, please ensure that the bottom edges of the Spore trees are not sticking out of the ground and that the Marsh Poppies are positioned so that their roots look fairly naturally grounded.
You may delete a fair amount of the fireroot which grows in abundance but do so at your own discretion as, if lots are deleted then we may need to do the same for all future claims in this region.
The smaller Marsh Poppies (which are animated) will need extra attention as the generator seemed to place many of them in ways that clipped with the rocks. Delete some of them so that they are roughly 2-3 per cell maximum (to save the fps!) and drag them out where they do not clip. The Heliconia plants, when found, are likely to also need this treatment but they are quite rare (you can add a few more as they look rather good!). Likewise, the TigerTall plants may need to be checked for ground clipping and slight tilting but are generally okay. Most other features appear to have generated very well.
Your largest task is to fill the watery sections with both types of mossy trees (found in the trees section of the static-blackmarsh menu) and broken branches/trunks (found in the Static-blackmarsh-Environment menu beginning 'BMVudai').
For special areas, you may wish to add quicksand but DO THIS VERY SPARINGLY as we would prefer the quicksand to be quite a rarity in the landscape due to the fact that it swallows creatures besides NPCs and we do not want the danger to be sucked out of the land. :yes:
How to do this is shown in a 'testworld' example in the worldspace entitled 'RPSQuicksandTestRealm'. It consists of adding a series of well-placed meshes called 'RPSTestQuickSandPlaneMesh' that can be found in the Static-blackmarsh-Environment menu and then covering the affected area with an activator model (in the 'Activators' section entitled 'RPSTestQuicksandSinkZone'). You can add Dementia trees, our own floraflies and/or moths and butterflies as you wish. We are considering adding mosquitoes near here which are likely to avoid the quicksand anyway....
You may alter the height map as you wish but please bear in mind that this may affect the overall look of the region besides the other adjacent cells and therefore it affects the positioning of flora and trees as you will need to alter these accordingly. You are welcome to delete objects and there are recommendations on what to add below but please bear in mind that doing so means that you will probably have to add or delete vertex shading and make appropriate choices for texturing using the surrounding texture palette.
Your main task, however, is to make this area damn marshy!
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Modding Directions: What to add
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Textures - When near to the borders with other claims, please make sure that there is a smooth transition. Otherwise, please keep to the sort of patterns that you see in the generated landscape. It's best to use non-grass textures around flora and rock objects to prevent grass peeping through objects and make sure you add vertex shading! Many of the textures should be fine but please check for lines created where the total textures get overloaded. Finally, add 'BMVudaiBrightSlime' to all underwater sections.
Clutter and Flora - Much of the flora has already been added through region generation but you may decorate with the following rocks and flora as long as it's not disproportionate: Fireroot, Sorrel, Tillandsia Bulbosa (please attach these in clumps to the base of some mossy trees just above the water level) and the animated Marsh Poppy flora.
You will find these under the Flora\blackmarsh folder or the Activator\blackmarsh\Flora folder (in the case of the Marsh Poppies). You will also find some mossy logs you could try using under Static\landscape.
You can also add flora fly, moths, butterflies and any other environmental effect (inc. sounds) that you feel is appropriate but not in such quantity as it would look odd if they suddenly stopped being there. We will be adding some environmental sounds later.
Trees - The giant spore trees and mossy trees are the most notable feature. The mossy trees need adding by hand as mentioned above (in more detail) whilst the spore trees should consist only of small models (marked with an 'S') and need their trunks 'grounded'. We will be adding the 'active and toxic' versions when we alter the large models later. Don't forget to vertex shade any large models that you add to create the effect of shadow.
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Very, very useful advice
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Some tricks: You can duplicate objects by selecting them and pressing Ctrl-D when you find your chosen model and then to drag them out and position them where you see fit. However, only do this if the item you are copying was originally placed by you using the same esp. Otherwise, errors occur. If this is a problem, you can use Ctrl-C instead to copy and it just needs a little more positioning.
It may help to keep track of the cells you have completed by using one of my powerpoint slides. This is basically the gridmap you see above and, to keep track, you just change the colour of a cell from its original colour to something else (like white) once you're done with it. Please ask about getting one of these documents.
Check out this thread for ideas on how it should look: Beta Landscaping Claims .
You may wish to choose a weather type or use activators such as fog or rain. Please notify a core member if planning to do so.
Otherwise, ask if you'd like to use any other models or textures. I'm sure you'll make sensible choices but it would be best to check that out by posting screenshots or offering a suggestion in this thread.
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Settlements and Dungeons
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The best part of landscape claims that I enjoy the most are modding the dungeons. For this, you may use the Hist Shrine exteriors which are currently being worked on and added to (see blackmarsh-architecture-shrines). Doing this claim gives you the rights to work on Ossasoit, particularly. However, there is a wide selection of possible dungeons on offer including SI ruins and caves so please ask regarding anything specific or if you think a new dungeon is needed somewhere.
All such dungeons can be decorated with appropriate clutter on the outside or you can leave this to the dungeon modder themselves. Please note that it should be your responsibility to post up dungeon claims once the landscape claim has been submitted. Please see the core about acquiring a claims template (that which is normally written in these threads) when you wish to do so as this will help. However, I can possibly do this if I have time available.
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Important Notice and Technical Information
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If you decide to add a lot of one particular model, please notify on this thread the rough proportions of the extra models that you add so that it is easier for the next person who takes a landscape claim to work with you and maintain a degree of uniformity to the landscape. For example, tell us roughly how many of Koniption's bromeliads you are using per cell.
For extra help, please take a look at sandor's excellent claims descriptions on the ST site here: SHRAC05 "Steadhelm Region Area Claim" [Claimed] , particularly in the 'Technical Info' section.
Above all, make if fun for the player and have fun with the claim yourself!
